Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Christmas Round Up


What’s not to LOVE about this time of year? I love a bit of ‘Christmas’ cooking and crafting inspiration, so without further ado here are some of the things we’ll be making, watching, eating and drinking in the Bambini household this Christmas. 



 
All of these Christmas ideas along with hundreds of others can be found over on our Pinterest page.
 
Have fun exploring!

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

McClelland Gallery and Sculpture Park



We heart a guest review, especially from the lovely Mel and her babes. This week they tried and tested out the McClelland Gallery and Sculpture Park  for the Hey Bambini blog. 

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As the weather warms up, it’s nice to start thinking about somewhere to take the kids that gets them using up energy in the great outdoors. Parks and playgrounds are great if you just want to get out for a short time or catch up with your Mother’s group and the zoo is always fantastic. But sometimes you want to get out of the city and explore somewhere new. Somewhere with plenty of space for the kids to run around, but also with something for the adults to enjoy too. The McClelland Gallery and Sculpture Park is just the place.

We recently discovered this gem on a day when a bit of a road trip was in order.

About an hour out of Melbourne, near Frankston, this gorgeous oasis of gardens, sculptures, gallery and café awaits. The 16 hectare property features about 100 sculptures, spread around the beautiful gardens. Take a picnic and explore the area on a sunny day. Guided tours of the gardens and sculptures are available Wednesday and Thursday at 11am and 2pm with a gold coin donation. For groups, tours can be booked on other days. Maybe a novel catch up for the mother’s group?

When the weather isn’t so nice, or you want to get out of the sun, there are three indoor galleries with permanent and changing exhibitions. When we visited, the exhibition was on birds and there was a kids area set up with drawing, origami bird making and tracing. Little Miss and the Little Man could easily have spent hours in there. It was only the lure of babycinos and something to eat at the café that convinced them to leave!

The café overlooks part of the garden and the lake and is a beautiful setting for brunch, morning tea or lunch. The menu is quite limited at breakfast and there isn’t a kids menu as such, but ham and cheese toasted sandwiches, fruit toast, scones or biscuits are likely to go down a treat. At lunch, there is kids lasagne and chips available.  For adults, the gourmet salads, baguettes and hot meals sound lovely. The babycinos come layered in a clear glass and the homemade raspberry and lavender jam with the scones was to die for!

A couple of high chairs are available in the cafe, but there are no changing facilities and no specific activities for the little ones.

All in all, the McClelland Gallery and Sculpture Park is a great place to visit when you don’t mind a bit of a drive and want to get out in the fresh air and experience something new. We’ll definitely be back!

Where ::  390 McClelland Drive Langwarrin
Opening Times ::  Tuesday to Sunday 10am-5pm
Entry Fee ::  Donation
Website ::   www.mcclellandgallery.com
 

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

There's No Place Like Home

 
 

 
Well hello gorgeous readers.

I send out my most sincere apologies for my recent absence. It would seem that l’ve been (in the word of Ned Flanders) a bit of a “neglecterino” of late when it comes to the up-keep of my humble blog.

It’s not to say l’m not thinking about blogging, l think about it every day! No it’s more of a time factor for me at the moment.

You see at the start of the year we decided to demolish our quintessential Brunswick town house and replace it with a sparkly new one.

My last blog post was around September. (Boo Hoo!)

Since then all my spare time has been thrown into getting the house finished by Christmas.

Fingers crossed.

Since September l’ve spent many hours in bed shops, lighting shops, carpet shops, furniture shops AND have spent countless hours online researching ridiculous things like shower curtain rods, brick tuck pointing,  how to clean brass, which front loader is the best  and functional storage solutions just to name a few.

I’m REALLY looking forward to moving in and decorating it. But what I’m looking forward to the most is our new home office, which is where  I will be able to throw myself back into my passion, which is my blog and of course writing about eating out with my kids.

We’re still out and about and you can always follow me on Instagram for all the latest snaps.

This renovation has also turned me into a Pinterest junkie so l’m hanging out over there a lot too.

Is anyone else out there renovating?

Would love to hear if you are.

Stay tuned and we’ll be back soon, l promise!!

Love Jolie x

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